It looks like the watchdog did a little better this weekend, almost going 1-in-3 when — thanks to Sen. Chris Dodd bringing it up on Fox News Sunday — Sen. Jon Kyl faced a question about John McCain flip-flopping on withdrawing from Iraq, and revising is deadline from 100 years down to just five years.
Sen. Dodd effectively countered Chris Wallace\’s attempt to put some distance between President Bush and John McCain.
WALLACE: Senator Dodd, in a speech on Friday, Barack Obama mentioned Bush and McCain in the same sentence 10 times in 10 minutes.
Given how many times that McCain has broken with President Bush over torture, earlier on how to wage the war in Iraq, and also a multiplicity of domestic issues, is that really fair to tie McCain to President Bush?
DODD: Of course it is. I mean, this is — again, we\’ve been — embraced the policies on tax policy, on the war in Iraq, on the critical issues, on major economic issues. John McCain is very much a supporter of where President Bush has been and where he is today.
In fact, he\’s changed his view on some of these major issues in the last number of weeks, on tax policy, on the war in Iraq the other day, announcing he\’s now all of a sudden discovered that we ought to be out of there by 2013.
That\’s a very different John McCain than even a few days ago. So clearly, I think associating the policies of this failed administration in foreign policy with a candidate who embraces the same view is very legitimate.
Which forced Sen. Kyle to do a bit of fancy footwork, in an attempt to put some daylight between Sen. McCain and President Bush. Unfortunately, Chris Wallace quickly moved on from there, failing to ask about Sen. Kyl\’s criticism of Sen. Barrack Obama for suggesting the same Iraq withdrawal deadline long before Sen. McCain came around.
Nevermind the other obvious question: Now that Sen. McCain has finally caught up with a Democratic candidate\’s position on Iraq, does the implication follow that Republicans — in order to win votes — actually have to run away from their standard bearer for the last 7.5 years, and take positions resembling those Democrats have held all along?
Okay, okay. This is Fox News we\’re talking about, after all. But a watchdog can dream. Right?
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